Headin’ To The Pen, Bronze, Sharon McConnell © 2012 Welcome to the Museum of the Big Bend Home of Trappings of Texas!

It's not unusual for a museum director to be asked, "What makes your museum special?" It happens every day. Visitors, staff, donors--they all want to know. For me the key to the Museum of the Big Bend’s special nature lies in the three aspects of its distinctive personality: its exhibits, its unique setting, and its commitment to the generation of new ideas while at the same time taking care in preservation of our rich history and culture.

Founded in 1937, the Museum of the Big Bend has been a key factor in preserving western art and the Big Bend ranching culture. Our mission is grounded in the belief that the visual arts are an integral part of our lives, serving as an essential tool to educate young and old about our past, present, and future. With more 125 works of art and gear displayed this year at the 27th Annual Trappings of Texas Exhibit & Sale, the Museum provides a comprehensive opportunity to view some of the most talented traditional western artists’ creative achievements as we continue to celebrate our unique ranching heritage. The Trappings of Texas Exhibit & Sale continues to be the flagship event and exhibit at the Museum and it is through the commitment of so many that this Texas Tradition endures.

This year, the Museum of the Big has even more reason to celebrate. September 21st through December 10th, 2013, the museum will exhibit the “Treasures from the Frederic Remington Museum” and host the Museum of the Big Bend Frederic Remington Symposium. As the biggest name in western art, Frederic Remington’s influence on Western Art cannot be overstated. From Ogdensburg, New York, works of art will travel over 2,000 miles to far West Texas to the Museum of the Big Bend. With over 24 pieces on exhibit, included will be the iconic bronze, “Bronco Buster” and the never toured before painting, “Charge of the Rough Riders.” We hope that you will plan on making a visit to the Museum of the Big Bend this fall for this once in a lifetime opportunity!

But for now, sit back and enjoy the pages of this year’s catalog of works from some truly amazing artists that perhaps were inspired by the great Frederic Remington!

Liz Jackson Director Sharon McConnell Headin’ to the Pen

For nearly a decade, Sharon McConnell has been creating memorable bronze sculptures that express her deep passion and experience in the horse industry. Her bronzes have been featured in popular museums and leading art shows across the nation. Currently, three of her bronzes are prominently displayed in a leading Fort Worth restaurant.

McConnell’s bronze, Headin’ to the Pen, is inspired by women horse trainers. “While men typically dominate the industry, women are often equally, if not more, successful,” says Sharon. Married to a trainer, McConnell is a trainer as well.

Years ago, when McConnell wasn’t busy raising her two daughters or helping her husband in the barn or pen, she was painting. Her husband Ronnie suggested she take one of her paintings to well-known Western artist Chuck DeHaan. The day McConnell visited, Chuck was working with clay and, after seeing her work, suggested she try her hand at sculpting.

That day she created her first bronze; done with thumbs and toothpicks. While she is considered self taught, she is thankful for being blessed with wonderful teachers such as DeHaan, Mel Lawson and a few others that didn’t mind sharing their knowledge.

McConnell’s art is found in the private collections of ranchers, world champion horse owners and cutters. She also has two bronzes on display at Del Frisco’s Steakhouse in Fort Worth, “The Tallest Hog at the Trough” and “U Ol’ Goat.”

After years in the industry, her work is now recognized at major museums and shows. McConnell’s art was recently featured at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth. Her sculptures were displayed at the 2012 Trappings of Texas, The Phippen Museum 2012 Memorial Day Art Show in Prescott, Arizona, Breckenridge Fine Art Show at Breckenridge, Colorado, where she received an honorable mention, Bosque Art Classic, Clifton, Texas, and Expressions of the Soul in Weatherford. In 2013 she was chosen to exhibit in the show America’s Horse in Art, at Amarillo, Texas.

McConnell and her husband have lived and trained horses in California, Colorado, Florida and the Texas Panhandle. From the horses to the land, her experiences are mirrored in her work. The Sul Ross Bar SR Bar Rodeo Association

Birthplace of National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association

For over sixty years, the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, NIRA, mission has been “Preserving Western heritage through collegiate rodeo.” Today there are over one hundred college rodeos a year, with one hundred and thirty-seven member schools and universities. But do you know the critical role that the Sul Ross Bar SR Bar Rodeo Association played in the formation of the NIRA? When members of the Sul Ross State Teachers College Clip and Brand Club met in October, 1947, an announcement was made that a Roping Club was being organized for students interested in roping and rodeoing. By November the Roping Club was organized and named the Bar SR Bar Rodeo Association. Months before the October and November announcements, students were practicing to compete in their first collegiate rodeo at John Tarleton College scheduled for late November. The student newspaper, Skyline, reported the results of this rodeo, “It was affirmed that the Sul Ross Rodeo Association won the trophy which was awarded to the school with the highest total number of points.” And in April of 1948, the Bar SR Bar six- man rodeo team won first place in the Hardin-Simmons Rodeo.

NIRATrophyCup The Sul Ross Bar SR Bar Rodeo Association

Birthplace of National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association

With these back-to-back victories for the club, members decided to pursue holding an intercollegiate rodeo contest at Sul Ross. By that summer of 1948, club President Hank Finger and sponsor Dr. Everett E. Turner met with the college president, Dr. R. M. Hawkins about building an arena. The president agreed to provide the funds to purchase the materials if the club provided the manpower. The members flew into ac- tion, built the arena and by that fall, Sul Ross hosted its first intercollegiate rodeo the weekend of November 4th.

That weekend representatives from the twelve colleges from Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas which had sent teams to compete, met to discuss the need Pictured above are members from the Sul Ross high-point team to create and organize an Intercollegiate at the first NIRA national college rodeo in San Francisco in 1949. Rodeo Association. Hank Finger was From left are Buster Lindley, Harley May, Hank Finger and Everett E. Turner. Finger is given the most credit for getting the NIRA off named committee chair to draft a constitu- the ground. He died in a car wreck in 1950. tion and by-laws. In short order, by April of 1949, representatives from Washington, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming met at the Shirley- Savoy Hotel in Denver, Colorado, and they adopted a constitution to govern the activi- ties of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. Amazingly, within two short years, the Bar SR Bar Rodeo Association established the NIRA.

The Bar SR Bar Rodeo Association contin- ues competing in the NIRA, an organization which it helped to create over sixty years ago.

The Sul Ross State College championship team 1949-1950 with the trophy brought back from the first national intercollegiate rodeo in the Cow Palace, San Francisco. From left: Buster Lindley, Harley May, Charles Hall, Hank Finger, Gene Newman, Bob Hull All images courtesy of Archives of the Big Bend, and faculty sponsor Everett E. Turner. Bryan Wildenthal Memorial Library, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas. Harley May (June 2, 1926-October 28, 2008)

Harley May, who was born and raised in Deming, New Mexico, worked on his father's ranch and dreamed of being a rodeo cowboy. When just a teen he began competing in nearby rodeos and won his first trophy saddle for being the All Around Cowboy at a junior rodeo at the age of thirteen.

In 1945, his dream of becoming a cowboy was put on hold when he enlisted for a three-year stint in the Ar- my Air Corps and served in WW II. May returned to the ranch but that didn't last long. While he was plow- ing the field one day Bill Rush, a local cowboy pulled up to the field he was working. As May approached the big convertible with a matching horse trailer that he was driving, Rush said, "I'm hittin' the rodeo trail, and I want you to come with me."

May is reported as saying, "That's all it took, I raced back to the house, threw some clothes in a suitcase and headed toward the rodeo in Silver City, New Mexico. I think I even left the tractor running!"

Realizing the importance of a good education, May began his college career at New Mexico A&M then later transferred to Sul Ross State College in Alpine, Texas, where he majored in range animal science and graduated in 1951. While attending college and competing on the rodeo team, May and several other college students came up with the idea to create an organization similar to the Rodeo Cowboys Associa- tion, RCA. Thus the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, NIRA, was created. While at Sul Ross, May won eight NIRA championship titles: three All Around titles, two bull riding titles, two saddle bronc titles and one bareback riding title.

Harley May First Champion Cowboy of the NIRA in 1949 and second president of the NIRA.

Harley May (June 2, 1926-October 28, 2008)

While beginning his professional rodeo career, May was instrumental in the development and formation of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. In addi- tion, he helped start the National Finals Rodeo. He competed in six NFR's and was the World Champion Steer Wrestler in 1952, 1956, and 1965. Over his ca- reer, May was awarded forty-four saddles and more than two hundred buckles.

In 1955, May purchased a small place in the town of Oakdale, California. There he owned the California Ranch Brokerage for over twenty years and helped to establish Oakdale as the Cowboy Capital of the World. In the 1990s, he returned to Alpine with his wife Lynn and served as the Sul Ross Rodeo coach from 1995- 1998. They eventually moved back to California, set- tling in the town of Santa Ana in 2007.

May received numerous accolades and awards for his storied rodeo career. He was an original inductee into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs when it opened in 1979. May was recognized with the Distin- guished Alumni award from Sul Ross in 1987. In 1988, he was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in Okla- homa City.

Top: Sul Ross State College President Hawkins and newly crowned Champion Cowboy, Harley May, 1949.

Right: Dr. Everett E. Turner and Harley May, 1950 Championship Saddle

All images courtesy of Archives of the Big Bend, Bryan Wildenthal Memorial Library, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas. Curator

Under the direction of Mary Bones, Curator of Exhibits & Public Mary Bones Programming at the Museum of the Big Bend, the Trappings of Texas Exhibit and Sale comes together each year. Bones has been the lead curator of the Trappings exhibit since 2000 and through her dedication over the years, the exhibit is now nationally recognized as one of the finest western art and contemporary cowboy gear in the country. Along with Trappings of Texas, Mary curates all of the exhibits at the museum throughout the year. Most recently, Mary curated the “Removing the Shroud of Mystery: Archaeology in the Big Bend” and she is currently working on the “Treasures from the Frederic Remington Art Museum,” scheduled to open this fall. Bones serves as the President of the Sul Ross State University Staff Council and has been the recipient of the Bar-SR-Bar Award. Additionally, Mary travels around the state giving lectures and presentations. Most recently, Mary was applauded with her research on the “Lost Colony: Texas Regionalist Artists” and presented at the Center for Advancement of Early Texas Art (CASETA). In addition, she authored the essay “Art and Architecture” for the Texas State University System publication A Texas State of Mind, chronicling 100 years of the university system. Mary received her B.A. in Biology and M.A. in History from Sul Ross State University. She currently serves as Secretary of the Fort Davis Chamber of Commerce and has been awarded the Volunteer of the Year Award through the Pilot Club of Alpine. Mary and her husband, Jim Bones call the Big Bend home.

Guest Curators

Wayne Baize has always been interested in art since his school days in Wayne Baize Hamlin, Texas. After graduating from high school, he set up a drawing table in Luskey’s Western Store in Abilene, where he produced portraits of people and horses. His first one-man show at the Stephenville Savings and Loan in 1970 provided him with enough money to pursue his art full time. In the early 1970s Baize began making trips to the Davis Mountains near Fort Davis, Texas, to take photographs on the o6 Ranch and other ranches in the area for reference. He eventually brought property in the Davis Mountains from the Largent family and there met his future wife, Ellen. In 1995, Baize was invited to become a member of the Cowboy Artists of America. He has served as Director, Vice President and President of the organization. Baize has won numerous awards including the silver medal award for drawings in the 1997 Cowboy Artist Show in Phoenix, Arizona and the 2004 American Cowboy Cultural Award. He has served as Guest Curator of Art for Trappings of Texas since 2008. Guest Curators

Leland Hensley was born and raised in Texas and came to far West Leland Hensley Texas to enroll in the Range Management program at Sul Ross State University. While attending Sul Ross, he worked at Big Bend Saddlery. After graduating in 1985 with a bachelor degree in Range Management, he worked as a ranch manager and in his spare time began to hone his braiding skills. After leaving the ranch, Hensley worked at Big Bend Saddlery from 1994 through 2007, as he continued to push himself to improve his braiding skills. Each step of the way, Hensley remained true to his goal of producing a quality and functional piece of gear. Due to this guiding personal philosophy he was elected into the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association in 2001. In 2003, he was acknowledged as “Braider of the Year” by the Academy of Western Artists. Hensley has had his work exhibited at Sun Valley, Idaho, Western Folklife Center Nevada, High Noon Western Americana Auction, Mesa, Arizona, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Trappings of Texas Alpine, Texas, for the last 17 years. He has served as Guest Curator of Gear for Trappings of Texas since 2002.

John Willemsma John Willemsma has been building saddles for over thirty years. Willemsma spent time day working on area ranches and understood the importance of a functional and fitted saddle. He opened his shop, LJ Saddlery, in the town of Guthrie, Oklahoma, in 1986 where he produces custom saddles for working cowboys and horsemen and women alike. He has studied with the great craftsmen Don King, Dale Harwood and Chuck Stormes. In addition he studied the early saddleries of Visalia, Hamley and Ray Holes to round out his education. Willemsma has pursued higher standards in every saddle that he builds and this attention to quality and detail was most recently recognized by the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association that inducted him as a member in 2009. In 2008, he had received the Best of Show award for Saddle and Leatherwork at Trappings of Texas and in 2010 was acknowledged as “Saddlemaker of the Year” by the Academy of Western Artists. His saddles have been displayed at many venues including the Coconino Center for the Arts, Flagstaff, Arizona; Vaquero’s Day, Santa Ynez, California, Oklahoma Folklife Festival, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Elko, Nevada Willemsma was selected as a Guest Curator of Gear for Trappings of Texas in 2010. Larry Abbott

Dickens, Texas

Larry Abbott was born in Stonewall County, Texas, moved to New Mexico and returned to Aspermont, Texas, to attend high school. He acquired his love for horses as a young boy from his dad and uncles and spent his summers on the back of a horse. Since then, Abbott has worked on ranches, big and small, throughout West Texas and South Dakota.

Abbott acquired his interest in bit and spur making around 1978. After visiting Adolph Bayers shop several times he decided to build a bit himself. After a period of trial and error he began taking a few orders. Gearmaker Jerry Cates invited Abbott to come to his shop for the day and watch him work. Cates’ influence, advice and workmanship were a great asset.

Throughout the years, Abbott has fine tuned his products for the working cowboy. His personal experience of riding many hours in the saddle, working cattle and knowing what tool works best and when, has brought him to where he is today.

Abbott is a founding member of the International Guild of Bit and Spur Makers. Dave Alderson

Twin Falls, Idaho

Dave Alderson grew up on the prairie of South Dakota. When he was 16, Alderson befriended a silversmith in Deadwood. Without a car, he would often spend several hours a day walking to and from her shop.

Alderson's first project was a ring, a Mother's Day gift for his mom. He got a pretty stone and set it in a ring. He even ornamented the piece with some gold he had panned in a South Dakota creek. Finally, it was finished, and he set off for home afoot to present his gift to his mother. "I lost it on the way home," Alderson recalls with a smile. "Fell right out of my pocket." Retracing his steps, Alderson found the ring. It had been run over by a car, but he fixed it up and his mom still has the ring.

The Alderson family moved to California and in 1978 Alderson worked at Gordon Hayes’ shop, Bits of Silver, for about ten years. When he started, he was mostly confined to soldering. Alderson longed to engrave but no one would show him how. "Finally one day I cornered Hayes' son," Alderson said. "I asked him how he made those cuts. He showed me and for the next six months I practiced at home every night for hours. I would nail a piece of copper to a block of wood and practice on that.”

Since leaving Bits of Silver, Alderson has done silver work for jewelry stores and Bob Schaezlein. Because he worked under someone else's name for over twenty-five years, Alderson's personal reputation as an exceptional craftsman was slow in coming. Ernie Marsh, a founding member of the TCAA, recognized the beauty and quality of Alderson's work and encouraged him to apply for membership in that prestigious association. His bid was successful and the talent of the boy who loved beautiful things from the earth was finally recognized.

Reining Horse Buckle, Engraved Steel, Sterling Silver and Gold, Dave Alderson Chase Almond

Fort Worth, Texas

Image courtesy of Jim Rogers

It’s been said by virtually every artist, but it also holds true for Chase Almond, that it’s the journey and not the destination that guides his work. Growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, Chase started painting with watercolors when he was fourteen, and worked in that medium until his sister, also an artist, introduced him to oils in 1998. "For me, the process of painting involves more than just recording what I see. My goal is for the viewer to experience the emotional response that inspired me to paint it. To transfer that response to the viewer "through" the painting, so to speak. My technique focuses on conveying this more with color and light and less about intricate detail."

Primarily an en plein air painter, he has studied with Kim English, Eric Michaels, George Strickland and Quang Ho. "I am attracted to pristine landscapes, but at the same time I'm intrigued by those with human presence or influence." Street and beach scenes are often seen in his work. "I like to do small plein air pieces combined with photos and take them back to the studio and do larger works. The emotion and immediacy that is sometimes captured in a plein air work is often difficult to translate into a studio piece. It's one of the great mysteries of painting from life." Chase looks to John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla, Anders Zorn and Robert Henri for inspiration.

He co-owns a restaurant design business and Chisos Last Light, Oil on Linen, 12” X 24”, Chase Almond divides his time between his home in Parker County, Texas, and a ranch in Trinidad, Colorado. He is an avid quail hunter, horseman and fisherman. Also a world traveler, Chase has painted en plein air on five continents, recording new landscapes and cultures through his art. Mike Anders

San Angelo, Texas

In 1970, Mike Anders was born in Lovington, New Mexico, and shortly thereafter he and his family moved to San Angelo, Texas, where he grew up. When Mike graduated from high school, he worked at sale barns and on several area ranches. At this time he also built his own saddle.

In 1992, Anders went to work at a saddle shop and began his apprenticeship as a strap hand. Within a year he was one of three saddle makers in the shop. Through the years of saddle making Mike met a number of bit and spur makers, and he decided to learn this craft, as well. In the spring of 2002, he began to teach himself how to make bits and spurs and has continued to refine his craft. Along the way, Mike has received advice and guidance from other makers who were a tremendous help to him.

Buckle, Steel, Sterling Silver Overlays and Fine Silver Inlays, Mike Anders Brian Asher

Snyder, Texas

Brian Asher was raised in the Fort Worth, Texas, area and graduated from Richland High School in 1978. He has worked or day-worked on some of Texas’s largest and most prestigious ranches all his adult life. Although he has been drawing from an early age, it wasn’t until 1992 that he decided to take his work more seriously. On days he isn’t working for area ranches, Brian draws and has limited edition prints made from his originals.

Brian still day-works and many times carries his camera with him to take pictures and get ideas for future works. He resides near Snyder, Texas, with his wife Karen and their six children.

Hobbled, Pencil on Paper, 12” X 15”, Brian Asher Wayne Baize

Fort Davis, Texas

By the age of twelve, Wayne Baize’s talent prompted his parents to arrange for private art lessons. After high school, he worked days in a lumberyard and feed-store and spent his nights refining his artistic talents. In 1968, Wayne met artist Tom Ryan who invited him to attend the CA, Cowboy Artists of America annual art show. Ever since then Tom became Baize’s friend and life-long mentor. In 1995, Baize was invited to become a member of the CA and has since served as Director, Vice President and President of the organization.

Wayne Baize depicts the contemporary cowboy and gives honor to the cowboy way of life in his works. His work is shown at Midland Gallery in Midland, Texas, and Trailside Galleries in Jackson, Wyoming, and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Wayne and his wife Ellen live on their small ranch outside of Fort Davis, Texas, and raise registered Hereford cattle.

A Tight Maneuver, Oil, 24” X 18”, Wayne Baize Vern Ballantyne

Unity, Canada

Vern Ballantyne is an accomplished rawhide braider. He not only makes gear for others, he uses it himself. The strength and functional beauty that Vern achieves is apparent in every bosal, quirt or headstall he produces.

Most of his gear is made in the cold, long winter months on his family ranch. He also starts colts and occasionally day-works.

Hobbles, 24 Strand Braided Rawhide, Vern Ballantyne Keith Basso

Herber, Arizona

Keith Basso and his wife, Gayle, own a ranch in east-central Arizona, where he has braided rawhide horse gear since 1995. Though largely self-taught, he has received valuable instruction from Leland Hensley and Nate Wald.

Basso’s works have been exhibited in Trappings of the American West, at the Phippen Museum, Prescott, Arizona, the ProRodeo Hall Of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, Texas, at the Elko Folklife Museum in Elko, Nevada, and at other venues in New Mexico and Arizona. A number of his pieces are in private collections.

Hobbles, Braided Rawhide, Keith Basso George Blackwood

Farmersville, Texas

George Blackwood grew up helping his father at the Bob Blackwood Spur Company. George’s dad was well known as a rodeo cowboy from the 1960s through the 1990s. By the age of twenty, George began making his own spurs while pursuing a rodeo career in the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association, PRCA, International Professional Rodeo Association, IPRA, and Texas Cowboy Rodeo Association, TCRA.

In 1998, after his father’s death, he inherited the family business. He changed the original makers mark from BB to G. Blackwood and began designing and drawing his own designs and making custom spurs to fit the customer’s needs. Today he hand engraves his designs and offers a line that includes jewelry, bits, spurs, saddle hardware, stirrups and buckles of every kind.

Blackwood’s works have been exhibited in Trappings of Texas, Women’s Protective Services Custom Spur Show and Live Auction, Lubbock, Texas, and The Art of the Cowboy Maker show in Loveland, Colorado.

California Style Spurs, Sterling Silver Overlay, Hand Sculpted Shanks and Band, Antique Brown Finish, George Blackwood Buckeye Blake

Weatherford, Texas

Buckeye Blake is so thorough a Westerner that it would never occur to anyone to mention it to him. His father was a rodeo cowboy who eventually worked for the Arizona Border Patrol, and his great-grandfather, S. Coke Blake, was one of the pioneer breeders of Quarter Horses. Blake has lived in Nevada, California, Montana, Idaho and now Texas. In the West, there is no livelier testimonial to regional, figurative expression than the art of Buckeye.

Buckeye's work is united with a technique that exudes a kinetic vitality, a compelling wit and an unfettered whimsical style.

Blake's work has been shown at the Buffalo Bill Art Show and Sale at Cody, Wyoming, and in the Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado. He is represented by Big Horn Galleries, Cody, Wyoming. In 2012 Buckeye was chosen to be the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale Honored Artist.

Buckeye and his wife Tona reside in Weatherford, TX

Blue Roan Blues, Pen and Ink and Watercolor, 12” X 15”, Buckeye Blake Teal Blake

McLeod, Montana

Teal Blake grew up in Montana, on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by ranching country. Growing up in his father’s studio looking at C.M. Russell paintings and reading Will James books, it was hard for him to not pick up a pencil and start capturing his own vision of cowboys and the American West.

Teal has received numerous awards for his watercolors including best of show and first place watercolor in 2008 and 2009 at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona, and in 2010 he received the Joel Beeler CAA Foundation Award. Teal is also responsible for creating the We Pointed Them North Art Show & Sale which celebrated the memoirs of Teddy "Blue" Abbott.

Teal and his wife Joncee currently work for the Pinwheel Ranch in McLeod, Montana.

The Futurity Prospect, Watercolor, 9” X 12”, Teal Blake Brody Bolton

Odessa, Texas

Brody Bolton was born and raised in Odessa, Texas, on the Ratliff Ranch. He has ridden bulls and saddle bronc horses professionally for thirteen years. Brody lived in France for a year when his father retired from riding bulls and worked at Euro Disney. He has had the opportunity to travel to many other countries as well. Along with his passion for rodeo, Brody became interested in leatherwork.

For the past seven years, he has been working with leather and is focused on advancing his knowledge, skills, and techniques in working with leather in the coming years.

Shaving Kit, Carved Leather, Brody Bolton Randy Butters

Homer, Michigan

Randy Butters, a life-long resident of Homer, Michigan, has farmed his entire life. Upon his marriage to Brenda Rodgers of Campo, Colorado, Randy was introduced to bits and spurs through his father-in-law, Clyde Rodgers. Randy’s first set of spurs, made out of a tire iron, was made during a cold Michigan winter in the 1980s.

Inspired by Ray Anderson, Erlon Shirley, Jerry Cates and Billy Klapper because of the quality of their work, Randy began making spurs and bits in 1985. Randy next studied the Texas legends such as McChesney and the Kelly Brothers and eventually mastered the detailed and ornate inlaid California styles of G.S. Garcia and others.

Randy was honored by The Academy of Western Artists as the 2005 National Spurmaker of the Year. His work has been shown at the High Noon Show and Auction in Mesa, Arizona, in Brian Lebel’s Old West Show and Auction, Denver, Colorado, and at shows hosted by the National Bit, Spur and Saddle Collectors Association

Randy continues to work on the family farm where he grew up. He raises feeder steers each year and grows hay for area livestock producers. He also enjoys taking care of the family's horse, Jack, and his small herd of Longhorns. Mike Capron

Sheffield, Texas

Mike Capron was born on January 19, 1945. He graduated from high school in 1962 and became interested in three areas of life: riding, roping and painting. In pursuit of his goals, Mike worked on ranches in southern New Mexico and West Texas until 1965 when he joined the United States Marine Corps. He rejoined civilian life in 1968 and upon returning to Texas in 1969 met and married Anne and together they began to pursue his old dreams.

For Mike riding is always a joy and is his favorite place to exercise, meditate and study his painting subjects. Roping never ceases to amaze him and for Mike all forms of rope magic are infatuating. In speaking of his art, Capron sees life as painting and painting as life. He believes that sharing one’s life and art are what takes you places that are worth telling about later.

Mike and Anne have two children, Liz and Wilson. Mike and Anne are the proud grandparents of Wilson and his wife Katy’s daughters, Macy and Emmy.

Capron’s works have been exhibited in Trappings of Texas for twenty-six years, along with other museums across the Southwest and in private collections, book illustrations and anywhere he is asked to share his art.

No Time To Relax, 9” X 12”, Oil on Canvas, Mike Capron Wilson Capron

Christoval, Texas

Wilson Capron grew up on ranches in West Texas and has studied horsemanship and roping since his youth. In 1996, Wilson began working for a friend’s father, legendary gear builder Greg Darnall. Wilson lived with the Darnall family while attending Texas A&M University-Commerce, where he earned an Ag- Business degree. At first, gear building was a way to earn money for rodeo fees, but Greg’s encouragement for Wilson to learn engraving sparked a passion for craftsmanship that continues today. As Wilson developed his engraving talent, he found guidance in artistic principles from his father, cowboy painter Mike Capron. In 1999, Wilson launched his own business

Capron plans out on paper the intricate overlay engravings that define his contemporary interpretation of Texas- and California-style bits and spurs. Wilson has exhibited in the annual Trappings of Texas sale and exhibit in Alpine, Texas, since 1999 and in the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association member show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, since 2005. He is represented by the Claggett/Rey Gallery in Vail, Colorado.

Wilson and his wife Katy who helps manage his business, and their daughters Macy and Emmy live in Christoval, Texas.

Scroll Loop Bit, Fine Silver Inlays, Relief Engraving on Steel, Nitre Blue Finish, Wilson Capron Doug Cook

Lenapah, Oklahoma

Necessity inspired rancher Doug Cook to try his hand at making bits and spurs. “I had a horse that needed something different for a bit. I couldn’t afford a custom one so I got to tinkering and built what I needed,” Cook said. A need for spurs to fit his wife Lisa’s smaller boot prompted Cook to fashion a pair for her as a Christmas present. He perfected his technique through trial and error, expanded his tools to include engraving equipment and watched a friend build belt buckles to learn the basics of silver work.

Since the mid-1990s Cook has been making custom bits and spurs, with a little jewelry thrown in for something different, mainly in the Texas Style Tradition. When it comes to spur making, Cook is an admirer of Adolph Bayers, Jerry Cates, Billy Klapper and Bill Homer.

Cook’s definition of good equipment is forthright. “They need to fit your boot. They need to be built to last. They ought to look nice. And, most importantly, they need to please the customer. That’s the main thing,” Cook said. His knowledge of the form and function of good bits and spurs comes from personal experience.

Doug’s works have been displayed at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and for the last five years at the Women’s Protective Services auction in Lubbock, Texas. Doug holds a stamp for both bits and spurs in the International Guild of Bit Spurs, Browned Steel, Copper and Sterling Silver, Doug Cook and Spur Makers. Rex Crawford

Walsh, Colorado

Rex Crawford developed an appreciation for the art of spur building while growing up on ranches in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. While working as a welder in California, Rex built his first pair of spurs ten years ago by talking on the telephone regularly with his father-in-law and spur builder Billy Rodgers. “I started out making one-piece Texas style spurs with overlays, and I’ve been migrating to the California style,” Rex says.

During the last three years, Rex’s ornately engraved spurs, buckles and other items have been ribbon winners at The Art of the Cowboy Maker in Loveland, Colorado. He enjoys building his own designs as well as trophy pieces and custom gear for cowboys and collectors. One client commissioned Rex to “make the fanciest pair I had ever made,” so he incorporated rubies in the spurs. A tell-tale sign of Rex’s work is a Bible verse stamped near his maker’s mark.

He was juried in January 2013 into the Traditional Cowboys Arts Association’s invitational competition for emerging saddle makers and silversmiths at the High Noon Western Americana Show in Mesa, Arizona, and in February 2013 into Trappings of Texas.

Despite the honors, the learning never stops for the craftsman. Rex soon will be taking an advanced class at the GRS Engraving School in Cowgirl Keep Sake Box, Sterling Silver, Rex Crawford Emporia, Kansas, where he has enrolled in classes by engraver Diane Scales and others. He also has attended a TCAA workshop in Oklahoma City. Tyler Crow

Apache, Oklahoma

Tyler Crow grew up in the small town of Apache, Oklahoma. A 2007 graduate of Apache High School, Crow has always had paper and pencil with him drawing horses. While still in high school, he won the Frank Lucas Congressional Art Contest and his work was on exhibit at the U.S. Capitol. During his senior year he entered a pencil drawing in the Oklahoma Youth Expo at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Winning Reserve Best of Show and a scholarship gave him a chance to attend a weeklong summer painting workshop co-taught by Bruce Greene and Martin Grelle.

Since their first meeting, Crow has attended three more painting workshops co-taught by Greene and Grelle. In April 2010, he attended a Cowboy Artist workshop taught by Greene at the Scottsdale Artists School in Arizona. These workshops have transformed Tyler from a sketch artist to a painter creating works that reflect his passion for cowboys and horses.

In Crow’s two most recent shows, the Bosque Arts Classic in Clifton, Texas, and Small Works, Great Wonders, at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, he received the People’s Choice Award. In addition, his work has been exhibited at the High Noon Show and Auction in Mesa, Arizona. Untitled, Charcoal, 14” X 14”, Tyler Crow Angie Crowe

Blanco, Texas

Angie Crowe began weaving around 1994. Traveling through New Mexico and Colorado, she studied the Navajo and Rio Grande weaving traditions- especially the bold expression of colors and geometric patterns that reflect nature and a spiritual world. During her travels, she met and spent time with two remarkable master weavers, Rachel Brown and Eppie Archuleta, both of whom inspired her to begin weaving.

Angie and her husband bought a farm in central Texas eighteen years ago and there they raise Karakul sheep whose wool she uses in her weavings. Ancient native traditions have informed her rug and saddle blanket designs. However, contemporary designs are also an important element of her work. She frequently chooses her wool colors first, both natural and dyed, and then she starts experimenting with various design ideas at the loom.

Sacred Pathway Saddle Blanket, 100% Karakul Wool, Angie Crowe Vince Donley

Parkman, Wyoming

Vince Donley has been braiding rawhide horse gear for more than thirty-five years. What started out as a means in which to advance his horsemanship skills on the family farm has gone far beyond to become his chosen field of study. He spent many years on a cowboy crew either in Montana or Wyoming where his skills as a rawhide braider grew out of necessity. Evenings in the bunkhouse were naturally spent building gear for himself and trading with others.

Vince met his future wife, Judy, and they settled in the Sheridan, Wyoming, area and there they raised their four children. It was here that Donley was encouraged to transition to becoming a full time braider. Inspired by the works of the late braider, Jack Sheppard, saddlemakers Don Butler and the Don King family, and clinician, Buck Brannaman, Vince has refined his braidwork to not only being functional, but also as works of true Western art. His color interwoven patterns and braid transitions intertwine into unique complementary elements found in the quirts, bosals and rein/ romal sets he creates.

Exhibiting his works in Trappings of Texas for several years now, Vince has also participated in The Heart of the West show in Lander, Wyoming, and The Art of the Horse show in Cody, Wyoming. Recently, Vince was selected “Braider of the Year” by the Academy of Western Artists. Bosal, 36 Plait Braided Rawhide Bosal, Gaucho Braided Nose Button and Side Buttons, Vince Donley Vandy Douglas

Sheridan, Wyoming

Vandy Douglas enjoys living in the West. She was born and raised in Wyoming, surrounded by the harsh realities and tremendous beauty of a ranching life. Horses, cattle and big land inspire and sustain her, as well as being common themes in her work.

Oil painting has always fascinated her and still does. Everything that goes into her work is joy and she believes that this emotion is seen in the finished product. Douglas says, “My paintings are an extension of the things I find moving in my life now, while echoing my past as well.”

Douglas’ works have been shown at the Red River Valley Museum Art Exhibit in Vernon, Texas, and Breckinridge Fine Art Center 18th Annual Juried Art Show in Breckinridge Texas. In 2009 and 2010, she exhibited in the Heart of the West Invitational Art Show in Lander, Wyoming.

Witches Knot, Oil on Engraved Copper, 6” X 6”, Vandy Douglas Kevin Elkins

May, Texas

Kevin grew up around art and horses in Brooksmith, Texas. His grandfather did pencil sketches and his father traded horses. After competing in rodeo events in childhood, Kevin toured on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association circuit. He also experimented with different art mediums and operated a custom sign company for several years.

In 1994 he found the perfect outlet for blending his artistic and rodeo interests when he saw a pair of spurs his father bought for his collection. Kevin wagered that he could make a better pair, and he proceeded to teach himself how to build gear. He has perfected his style through trial and error and seeking the advice of Russell Yates and other experienced artisans.

Through the years Kevin has become known for his bright-cut engraving. He is now broadening into more detailed shading and gun-style engraving on a variety of metals, including silver, steel, brass, and copper.

Kevin's clients include working cowboys, trail riders and collectors. He also occasionally builds trophy pieces, such as the spurs for the match horse races at the 2011 Western Heritage Classic in Abilene, Texas.

Heart Shaped Snaffle Bit, Steel and Sterling Silver, Kevin Elkins Teresa Elliott

Grapevine, Texas

Teresa Elliott was born in Weatherford, Texas, and raised primarily in St. Louis, Missouri. As a child, she visited her grandfather’s farm in Texas which offered her the opportunity to observe and study his cattle. “It became a place and time to know my subjects in their entirety.” After receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts, she returned to Texas where she spent twenty-five years as a freelance illustrator in Dallas. As a painter Elliott was largely self taught, however, she had many years of commercial art experience, so her development as an oil painter was fueled by decades of sketching faces, as well as working with the figure.

In 2005 Teresa returned to her fine art roots, dedicating herself exclusively to studio practice. She also returned to a subject that fascinated her since her childhood, the Texas Longhorn. Elliot has received numerous awards for her paintings including the 2009 and 2012 People’s Choice, at the Coors Western Art Exhibit in Denver, Colorado, the 2008 Artist’s Choice in the Cowgirl Up exhibit at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, Arizona, and the 2009 Best of Show at the Night of Artists exhibit at the Briscoe Western Museum, San Antonio, Texas.

Chinaco, Oil on Linen, 20” X 16”, Teresa Elliott Wayne Franklin

Cotulla, Texas

Wayne Franklin grew up in the heart of the south Texas brush country around Cotulla, where he has been a professional silversmith for thirty-six years. His designs for belt buckles and pistol grips are influenced by his ranching heritage and the history of the region. He has made pistol grips for many of the Texas Rangers and others in the law enforcement community. Like a bit and spur maker or a saddle maker, fit and function must come first. His pistol grips are not only attractive in design but must perform properly when the need arises.

He has designed and produces award presentation buckles for many organizations such as the Texas Wildlife Association, the Los Cazadores Deer Contest, and La Mesa Ranch Deer Contest.

Four sets of Wayne’s pistol grips are on display on Ranger guns at the Texas Ranger Museum in San Antonio. This is the twenty-third year that Franklin has participated in Trappings of Texas.

Branding Trophy Style Buckle, Sterling Silver Cast Overlay, Wayne Franklin Jerry Galloway

Dumas, Texas

Jerry Galloway became interested in making bits and spurs while working on farms and ranches. While growing up, Jerry loved to work with his hands and enjoyed making something out of nothing. One of the things that Jerry especially enjoyed was modifying gear to suit his needs, and through that process he started making bits and spurs for his own personal use.

In 1993, Galloway began expanding on his engraving techniques and started to develop a unique relationship with both cowboys and collectors. He continued to work on his engraving techniques by attending the Miller Bit and Spur School in Nampa, Idaho, and also through instruction from Benno Heune of Emporia, Kansas. Jerry also spent time refining his craftsmanship with Jeremiah Watt.

Jerry admires the clean construction of the Texas style spur and the Gal Leg shank along with the large rowel, ornate California style. Through the year he has become a master of inlay work and fancy silver engraving. Galloway also enjoys the challenge of free- hand engraving directly on the steel. Galloway’s spurs have been exhibited at the High Noon Western Americana Auction and Antique Show in Mesa, Arizona, and Trappings of Texas.

Spurs, Steel and Sterling Silver, Jerry Galloway Jim Gilmore

Alamosa, Colorado

Jim Gilmore was born, raised and continues to live on his family’s cattle ranch in southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley. Along with his love for horses, cattle and wildlife, Jim developed an interest in leather tooling, drawing and sculpture. Bill Chappell, a well-known saddle maker and Western artist, taught Gilmore how to tool leather and later guided him into the world of sculpture.

With over twenty-five years as a full time sculptor, Jim has displayed his works in many national shows. He has received Best of Show awards for sculpture at the NatureWorks show in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and at the Trappings of the American West at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona. In addition, Jim has completed numerous monumental bronzes, including double life-sized bison for Cabelas, Inc.

Buffalo Trails, Bronze, #12 of a Limited Edition of 40, Jim Gilmore Sara Hagel

Dayton, Wyoming

Instead of finding a summer job, Sara Douglas Hagel began making manehair mecates in 1983. Saddlemaker Bob Douglas, of Sheridan, Wyoming, taught his thirteen-year-old daughter all he knew about the art, most of which he had learned by trial and error. Refining her skills, learning to use natural colors and designing new patterns, Sara continued to make rope through high school.

She married Lee Hagel in 1992 and began making ropes regularly. Working as a team, she and Lee streamlined and improved the process. With each completed piece came new understanding, carrying on the tradition of learning by doing.

Mecate, 5/8”, 24’ Long, 8 Color Variegated, Sara Douglas Hagel Scott Hardy

Longview, Canada

Descended from five generations of Western Canadian ranchers and stockmen, Scott Hardy left the ranching life in 1981 to devote himself full time to working with silver. Since 1991, he has lived with his wife Leslie, two sons and a small herd of Longhorns in the heart of southern Alberta’s foothill cattle country.

Though largely self-taught, Hardy acknowledges the work of modern masters Al Pecetti and Mark Drain, and turn-of-the-century Tiffany Company craftsmen. It is their influence and knowledge that embellishing horse and rider with precious metals is a tradition as old as man on horseback. This history informs Hardy’s drive to give contemporary expression to historic Western forms. Hardy is a founding member and current President of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association.

Buckle, Sterling Silver, Fully Hand Engraved, Scott Hardy Leland Hensley

Meridian, Texas

A native Texan, Leland Hensley developed a passion for the art of rawhide braiding while attending Sul Ross State University in Alpine. After graduation in 1985, he took a job as a ranch manager but continued to polish his braiding skills. To this day Leland sees his braiding, not as a job that needs to be done, but an enjoyable activity that he looks forward to at the end of each day. He is constantly challenging himself to improve and grow. He’s made it a personal goal with each finished piece to surpass what he’s done in the past. As a result, Leland’s work has developed an outstanding reputation amongst collectors and working cowboys alike for unique design, beauty, and rugged functionality.

Leland has made several trips to Argentina to learn new techniques and share ideas. Drawing on international influences is one of the characteristics of Leland Hensley’s style that sets his work apart.

Leland is a member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. His work has been exhibited in Sun Valley, Idaho, at the Gathering of Gear in Elko, Nevada, and at Trappings of Texas, where Leland has been a Guest Curator of Gear since 2002.

Pen, Braided Rawhide, Leland Hensley Jay “J.T.,” Hudson

Hobbs, New Mexico

Jay was raised on a ranch in southern Arizona. He has a degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Arizona and has cowboyed in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona.

He lives in Hobbs, New Mexico, where he has been a saddle maker for thirty years. His business specializes in making handmade saddles, leather goods and quality gear for working cowboys. Jay also designs and makes his own silver and Western silver jewelry as well.

Jay believes in the importance of passing on his knowledge and has taught jewelry classes, worked with students in a New Mexico Department of Education rehabilitation program and had apprentices in the New Mexico Division of the Arts Apprentice program. He also takes on private students.

Jay has shown his work at many Cowboy gatherings and symposiums, as well as several galleries.

Shotgun Shell Carrier, 1/2 Flower Carved Leather, J.T. Hudson Matt Humphreys

Spur, Texas

If a family history steeped in ranching traditions has any bearing on knowing how to make good cowboy gear, it doesn’t run much deeper than Matt Humphreys’ family. His grandfather, Jim, managed the Pitchfork Land & Cattle Company. Jimbo, Humphreys’ father, manages the Guitar Ranches in Spur and it is from him that Matt learned much of his spur and bit-making skills

Humphreys took an interest in the craft and started making bits and spurs in his spare time while in high school. While on break from class at Texas Tech University, Matt spent time with other makers, including Johny Weyerts of Alpine. By the time Humphreys graduated with a bachelor degree in Animal Science, he had already set up his own spur and bit making shop in Lubbock. He now resides in Spur with his wife, working out of his dad’s old shop.

He has built pieces for J. Martin Bassinger, Red McCombs, Trent Willmon, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Antonin Scalia. He has shown at the Western Heritage Classic in Abilene and the Texas Ranch Round Up at Wichita Falls. Humphreys has been making the trophy awards for the Motley-Dickens County Old Settlers Reunion in Roaring Springs, Texas, the Ranch Cutting Horse Association, and the Western Heritage Classic.

Buckle Set, Steel, Sterling Silver Overlay and 14k Yellow Gold, Fine Relief Engraving, French Grey Finish, Matt Humphreys Stephen Jones

Woodward, Oklahoma

Stephen Jones was born in 1957 and is a native Oklahoman. He and his wife Kathy live in the historical community of Kennan, which is located on the family ranch.

Jones’ work may seem somewhat diverse with wildlife, cowboys and Indians, but it reflects the diversity of his life. Stephen has worked as a professional bull rider, commercial illustrator, successful fashion designer and working cowboy. His Cheyenne heritage emerges in his bronzes of Native Americans and his love of nature is expressed in his wildlife pieces. His hands-on experience and knowledge as a working ranch cowboy is what breathes life into his cowboy art.

Stephen creates works that stir his soul. His sculptures are not duplicates of his subject, instead they embody the experience of what had occurred at that particular moment and the power, grace and elegance of the subject.

One Short, Bronze, Stephen Jones Krist King

Archbold, Ohio

Krist King is a self-taught whip maker and braider. He learned his craft while cowboying on ranches in Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Florida.

While in Florida, he was introduced to the cow whip and decided to take one apart and learn to make one on his own. Thirty years later, King supplies whips to customers all over the United States. As time allows, he also rawhides and has used his own reatas for years. King also enjoys training horses for riding and driving.

Currently King lives in northwest Ohio with his wife Muriel. He also works for a fertilizer and propane company.

Bullwhip, 10 Foot, 16 Plait with Shot Loaded Braided Belly, Osage Orange Handle, Krist King Billy Klapper

Pampa, Texas

Image courtesy of Cheatham 2006

Billy developed a relationship with A.R. Bayers, a bit and spurmaker, and he would often observe Bayers at work and learned a great deal from him. In particular, Bayers made spurs from old Ford axles, because they were made of high-grade steel.

In 1966, using a Ford axle, Billy made his first pair of spurs. The demand for his spurs grew, and in 1968, he started making gear full time. Billy has six hundred and eighty-two spur patterns and eight hundred and sixteen different bit patterns and will customize each one. To make his gear, Klapper still heats his metal with a small coal forge located in the center of his shop and pounds out the hot metal on trip hammers made in the 1920s. He is one of the few spurmakers who still makes a one-piece spur. First created for working cowboys, Billy’s gear is now collected worldwide.

717 Spurs, Double Mounted with Flowers and Bars, Billy Klapper Gene Klein

Miami, New Mexico

Gene has been designing and crafting unique hand engraved sterling silver and gold finery since 1988. Ten years earlier, he started building bits and spurs for his cowboy friends and from the very beginning his goal was to create pieces that were absolutely functional. He wanted a product that no matter what its appearance, any horseman would know straight away it was right.

Soon enough, Gene’s artistry began to emerge in his work and now cowboys and collectors alike have come to appreciate Gene’s attention to detail and his uncompromising ability to combine function and art in every piece he makes. Whether you end up hanging one of his fine pieces on your horse’s head or on your wall, they’re guaranteed to fit, work right and show well, too.

Klein’s works have been exhibited in Cowboy Trappings at the Claggett/Rey Gallery, Vail, Colorado, Trappings of the American West, Flagstaff, Arizona, Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering at the Western Folklife Center, Elko, Nevada, and Trappings of Texas.

Las Cruces Style Bridle Bit, Sterling Silver on Blued Steel, Gene Klein Buddy Knight

Marfa, Texas

Buddy Knight, a well-known blacksmith, cowboy and silversmith has worked on ranches for over forty years. He began making bits and spurs because his years of cowboying taught him the necessity of good quality working gear. He is a master of metal fabrication for the ranch or ranch house.

In 1988, Buddy started making spurs full time. He specializes in contemporary cowboy style bits and spurs of cold rolled steel with sterling, copper or brass overlays. Buddy also produces hand-cut, hand-engraved, Western style jewelry, conchos and trim. His work has been displayed for several years at Trappings of Texas. In 1995, he was invited to display his spurs at the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada. In 1996, Buddy demonstrated spur making at the twenty-fifth annual Texas Folklife Festival at the Institute of Texas Cultures in San Antonio.

Crockett/Kelly Style Desert Scene Spurs, Cold Rolled Steel, Ster- ling Silver, 10K Goldfill, Copper and Jewelers Bronze, Oxpho Blue Finish, Buddy Knight Douglas Krause

Red Bluff, California

Image courtesy of Darrell Dodds

Douglas Krause was born in Idaho and spent most of his life in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming. He began braiding in 1972, hitching in 1978, and making mecates in 1995. Douglas began a four-year saddle making apprenticeship in 1981, with master saddle maker, T. J. Holmes. He purchased Holmes’s Cheyenne, Wyoming, shop in 1985. In 1990, Douglas moved his shop to Colorado and then to California in 2005. His move to California was prompted by his interest in the West Coast type of gear and its history. Now most of his work is centered around the cow horse and stock horse industry.

He is most inspired by the work of fellow makers and enjoys being able to discuss trends, problems and solutions with other craftsmen. Douglas finds that the best leather workers are always willing to share ideas and improvements. He feels that building gear is evolutionary–a journey where the idea is to build better and better equipment. Krause’s journey led to a 1998 Best of Show award for his mecates at Elko, Nevada, and was recognized as the 2001 Braider and Hitcher of the Year by the Academy of Western Artists.

Mecate, 5/8” X 22’, 6 Strand Manehair, Douglas Krause Laddan Ledbetter

Midland, Texas

Laddan Ledbetter was born and raised in Midland, Texas, where he spent the majority of his time wrapped up in the rodeo world as a professional bull rider. He became interested in silverwork by hanging out in Terry Starnes’ workshop. After being encouraged by Brody Bolton of 3B Leather Work, in February of 2009 he attended Johnny Weyert’s School and enrolled in an engraving class for beginners in Alpine, Texas.

In the beginning he made numerous contacts, and spent time with many amazing engravers such as Stewart Williamson, Wilson Capron, Russell Yates, and Mike Pardue, who all made a huge impact on his work. In 2011, in pursuit of refining and improving his engraving skills, he attended the Traditional Cowboy Arts association Winter Workshop taught by Wilson Capron and Russell Yates in February and in November he attended Johnny Weyert’s advanced class in Alpine.

Most recently he has been accepted to compete in the 2013 Emerging Artist contest held by the Traditional Cowboy arts Association in Mesa, Arizona.

Flask, Sterling Silver, Laddan Ledbetter Pablo Lozano

Tandil, Argentina

Pablo Lozano was born in Buenos Aires in 1964 and began learning about braiding at the age of fifteen. Family tradition tied him into Argentina’s cattle heritage since the 19th century. After graduating from Champagnat College in Buenos Aires he studied with rawhide braider Don Luis Alberto Flores and silversmithing with Daniel Escasani.

Since 1987, Lozano has been an ad honorem instructor at the Heritage Center in Tandil. Throughout his career, Lozano has schooled and mentored many aspiring braiders. He believes in the concept of apprenticeship as a means to educate and safeguard the Gaucho’s cultural legacy. In 2008 Lozano became a member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. His works have been exhibited at Elko, Nevada; Mesa, Arizona; Loveland, Colorado, and at the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Lozano has received numerous awards and in 2007, he earned the Santos Vega as the best Argentine rawhide braider.

Lozano’s traditional rawhide braiding is recognized for its dependable use and unique beauty due to his personal style and creative talent.

Hobbles, Braided Rawhide, Pablo Lozano Jan Mapes

Kim, Colorado

Ever since she was a girl visiting her grandparents’ ranch in Arkansas, Jan loved horses and the outdoors. Through high-school and college those passions grew and her best friends were some of God’s four-footed creatures. Naturally, they became the subjects that filled her sketchbooks. However, until she visited Santa Fe on her honeymoon she didn’t consider art as anything more than a hobby.

For over thirty years Jan has been immersed in the rural cultural of Colorado’s ranching community. With encouragement from her horse-trainer husband and an inquisitive mind, Jan developed her ability to express, first in clay and later in paint, the things that touched her heart.

Today her work travels from her studio in southeastern Colorado all across the United States. And with her contract for the design of the National Cutting Horse Association’s trophy, her sculpture travels around the globe. But whether painting or sculpting, Jan’s goal is the same: “to capture the spirit and beauty of this earthly experience, and to encourage others to see, feel, enjoy, and appreciate it.”

Hook n’ Horns, Bronze, #2 of a Limited Edition of 21, Jan Mapes Ernie Marsh

Star Valley, Wyoming

Making quality silver mounted bridle bits and spurs has been a passion of Ernie Marsh since 1990.

His unique style of combining firearm engraving with traditional inlay techniques, along with painstaking attention to detail have set his work apart. With function being the underlying foundation, his heirloom quality pieces have become valued possessions of serious horsemen as well as collectors.

Marsh’s vision and passion for bits and spurs became reality with the help of the late Elmer Miller of Nampa, Idaho, and John Barraclough of Pasadena, California. He is also appreciative of the help and advice from many fellow craftsmen.

The Marshs operate a full-time shop, producing bits, spurs, saddle silver and buckles and since 1998, producing the traditional style stainless bridle bits first produced and made famous by noted bit maker, Al Tietjen of Reno, Nevada. The Marsh Brothers Silver and Saddle Shop is located in Etna, Wyoming.

Ernie’s work has been exhibited in shows throughout the country, including Elko, Nevada, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Fort Worth, Texas, Jordan Valley, Oregon, Paso Robles, California, Flagstaff, Arizona, and Wickenburg, Arizona.

He was chosen as one of the Top Ten Spur California Style Spurs with Drop Shanks, Inlaid Fine Silver Makers from 1997 to 1999. In 2000, the Stripes, High Relief Steel Engraving, Grey Finish, Ernie Marsh Academy of Western Artists honored him with the Will Rogers Award as Spurmaker of the Year. Marsh is a founding member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. Nancy Martiny

May, Idaho

Nancy Martiny built her first saddle in 1987 after receiving two Harwood-made trees as a Christmas gift. That spring, Dale Harwood helped coach her through building herself a saddle. Armed with a notebook from her time at Harwood’s, she built her next saddle on a twelve inch Homestead tree for her children to ride. Orders from friends and family followed. Trial and error, with the occasional phone call to Dale, were her lessons in saddle making.

A trip to Oklahoma City to attend a leather carving class, taught by Dale Harwood and Don King, as part of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association annual show in 2002, opened up a new world of learning opportunity for Martiny. A scholarship from the TCAA to a weeklong saddle making class with Dale Harwood became the second chance at higher education. Workshops with Cary Schwarz and Steve Mecum, as well as another trip to Oklahoma City, have continued her education. Nancy continues to study various resources to improve both her saddle making and leather carving skills

Purse and Checkbook Cover, Carved Leather, Nancy Martiny Loyd McConnell

Marble Falls, Texas

Loyd McConnell has been making knives since 1976. He started on a Sears 6 X 48 grinder that he had borrowed from his dad. In 1966, he graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in accounting and practiced public accounting for eighteen years. Throughout the years, he had been involved with several oil related companies both as owner and director. In 1989, McConnell made knife-making a full- time job.

McConnell’s work can be found in collections all over the world. He is a Bespoken Knifemaker for Holland & Holland, Riflemakers to the British Crown, producing exclusive knife designs. The Orvis Company, Inc. and Beretta Galleries in New York and Dallas, Texas, carry his work.

Caping Set- Drop point, Skinner and Scalpel, Ivory Handles, Loyd McConnell Sharon McConnell

Dublin, Texas

Sharon McConnell was born in Denton, Texas, where her family was in the cattle and horse industry. She has trained pleasure horses, barrel horses and has assisted her husband Ronnie with training riding and showing cutting horses. They currently reside in Dublin, Texas

Sharon had been receiving painting instruction from Western artist, Chuck DeHaan. DeHaan encouraged her to try her hand at sculpting and for McConnell she found a media to fully explore her talents.

Hog Wild, Bronze, #1 of a Limited Edition of 14, Sharon McConnell Rick McCumber

George West, Texas

Rick McCumber was raised in the small south Texas ranching community of George West, located in the fertile Nueces River Valley. Surrounded by the families, history and culture of the men credited with originating the legendary longhorn cattle drives of the 1880s, Rick was, as a child, privileged to ‘tag along’ during the cattle workings with men whose fathers and grandfathers had participated in the transformation of the early Texas cattle industry. The youngster did not realize at the time that it would be these early years of involvement with these experienced cowmen that would one day be the inspiration for the pieces he creates in his studio, located at his ranch home on the banks of the Nueces River.

Grateful to have known these men, Rick is committed to accurately representing and honoring the ranching traditions of the south Texas cowboy, both past and present, in his work. Rick calls on his ‘lessons learned’ from the past and his own lifetime of ranching as he produces each new piece whether it’s an accessory of silver and gold or an image cast in bronze, each piece that he creates captures the ‘Cowboy Spirit’ that still lives in Texas.

Silver Handle Case Trapper Knife, Sterling Silver and Steel, Rick McCumber Carlos Montefusco

Huinca Renanco, Argentina

Born on December 25, 1964, Carlos Montefusco attempted his first drawing at the age of one when he added his own artistic signature to his father’s graphic designs. By the age of six, Montefusco enjoyed horseback riding with his father and was developing an interest and passion for the horse, the Argentine countryside and its rural people.

A graduate from the University of Lomas de Zamora with a Zootechnical Engineer degree, he moved to rural Huinca Renanco to begin his professional career and continued to refine his artistic skills. However, he always managed to find time to show his love for nature and his passion for the gaucho heritage through his drawings and paintings.

Self taught, the fusion of his humoristic and singular style with a realistic and warm depiction of the Argentine countryside and its rural people has placed him in a unique position amongst Argentina’s painters.

Augustus McRae, Watercolor on Paper, 15” X 11”, Carlos Montefusco Whit Olson

Canistota, South Dakota

While earning his Equine Science Degree from Montana State University, Whit Olson began studying under professional braider, Hial Steele of Manhattan, Montana. What began as a part- time job rapidly developed into a passion.

Though the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association’s scholarship program and workshops, Whit has been privileged to work with TCAA braiders like Nate Wald and Leland Hensley. Olson has made the most of the time he has been able to spend with other braiders and values the techniques that have been passed down to him. His work is on display at several exhibits each year including: Trappings of Texas, Art of the Cowboy Makers in Las Vegas, and the Gathering of Gear, Elko, Nevada.

Whit and his wife, Megan, reside outside of Canistota, South Dakota, where they raise crops, cattle and kids. Although Whit stays busy farming and ranching, he continues to braid functional and elegant gear. He consistently strives to learn and build on what others have taught him and believes that learning is a lifelong commitment.

Bosalita, 1/4” 12 Plait, Walnut Dyed Body, 48 Plait Noseband, and Kangaroo Mane Tie, Whit Olson Pee Wee Peebles

Marathon, Texas

Pee Wee Peebles grew up in the town of Ranger, Texas, where he graduated from high school. As a high school student, Peebles built his first set of spurs in Ag class and used them while working on area ranches. After graduation, he worked briefly on the D Ranch near the Guadalupe Mountains then moved to the Big Bend area where he lives today.

As a young man of nineteen, he moved to Marathon, Texas, and there had the good fortune to work for John Hardaway who was an area ranch manager. Hardaway was not only his boss, he was a teacher and mentor to Pee Wee. He helped him to build gear from start to finish and also got him interested in engraving. In addition, Peebles was determined to build a one-piece spur but was experiencing difficulties producing one that met his standards. He had the good fortune to spend time with Billy Klapper at his shop where he learned the techniques and methods of creating a one-piece spur from one of the masters of the craft. Along the way, Pee Wee received useful advice and criticism from the cowboys that he worked with on the importance of making a functional bit or a set of spurs

Pee Wee and his wife Kyle along with their three sons Gage, Rance, and Levens live near Tesnus, between Sanderson and Marathon, Texas, on the U up U down Ranch owned by Scott McIvor.

Handmade 4130 Steel, Brass and Copper, Pee Wee Peebles Benoit Poulain

Lone Oak, Texas

Benoit Poulain is a successful Frenchman residing in the countryside near Lone Oak, Texas. His thirty years experience in the Western silversmith arena has recently earned him the honor to build the saddle silver for the team owner of the 2011 NFL Super Bowl finalist and five presidential saddles for dignitaries around the globe such as Prince Charles of England, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and the Presidents of Afghanistan, Columbia and Mongolia.

When he is not in the shop, he helps his wife Pam taking care of their farm and big vegetable garden. In the evenings he can be found in the kitchen engaged in a culinary experiment, which Pam and their friends adore!

Diamond Back Rattler Ranger Set, Sterling Silver, 14k Gold Inlay and Black Diamond, Bemoit Poulain Ruben Ramos

Jal, New Mexico

Ruben Ramos has been involved in knife and leather work for over twenty-four years, and most recently he has been able to work on his craft full-time. Ramos finds great satisfaction in creating a usable piece from raw materials. To produce one of his knives, he starts with flat bar stock and hollows out the knife using a grinder/ sander as opposed to hammering the knife into shape. He is always seeking ways to improve on his craft and strives for perfection. His knives are truly one-of-a-kind and are built to last generations. Both his knives and custom leather goods are handmade by him in his shop.

Ramos has lived in Jal, New Mexico, most of his life and makes his home there with his wife DeAnna.

Mini Mag, ATS34 Stainless Steel, Rope File Work and Barbed Wire Engraving, Spalted Maple Handle, Ruben Ramos Ken Raye

Zachary, Louisiana

Ken’s interest in saddlemaking began when he was twelve years old, when he made belts and wallets with a hand-me-down Tandy kit. In 1988, he worked for Harold Chambers, a local saddlemaker in Denham Springs, Louisiana, and while there repaired saddles.

In 1991, Ken moved to San Angelo and worked for John and Tim Piland at Piland Saddlery and he made up his mind to become a saddlemaker after building over one hundred saddles for them. He moved to his present day home, Zachary, in 1993 and there opened his own shop. In 2005 he met his future wife, Meliss, at the NCHA futurity. Ken credits Meliss with being an excellent strap hand and an asset to his business. Ken was awarded the 2008 Best Workmanship Geometric Category and 2009 Best Tooling at the Boot and Saddle Makers Roundup in Wichita Falls. Javier Ribeyrol

Platanos, Argentina

Javier Ribeyrol graduated from San Martin College and then began studying the art of silversmithing from Fernando Rivalora at the Muncipal School of Arts in Berazategui. He subsequently studied the art of sculpting and chiseling in silver with silversmith David Zaco.

Ribeyrol’s non-traditional style and creative talent are recognized by his distinctive hand cut and deeply-sculpted pieces that highlights bold floral motifs in his silver. The chiseling and engraving of floral patterns adds a unique beauty to his style.

Javier has mentored several aspiring silversmiths from his shop in the town of Plantanos. He believes in the concept of apprenticeships as a means to educate and safeguard the gaucho’s cultural legacy. Currently he is an instructor at the Municipal School of Arts in Berazategui working with aspiring silversmiths.

Ribeyrol has exhibited his work in numerous Trappings of Texas shows as well as at the Art of the Cowboy Maker in Loveland, Colorado, and at the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Scarf Slide, Sterling Silver and Gold, Javier Ribeyrol Raul Ruiz

San Angelo, Texas

Image courtesy of Jim Bean

Raul Ruiz, the man known as the “Sheep Shearing Artist of West Texas” for over twenty- five years, was born in Tom Green County, November 3, 1959 to Daniel and Clara Ruiz. As a child, Raul began to show a strong artistic talent that has followed him from his school day to the present. As a teenager Raul labored as a sheep sheerer in the family business prior to the onset of his career as an artist.

In the mid-1970s Raul began an apprenticeship with the late Dwight C. Holmes, a nationally recognized and renowned artist and sculptor who was a member of a generation of well- known artists. Holmes led Raul into the same mediums of art by teaching and passing on his knowledge to him. After nine years of study Raul’s apprenticeship ended with the passing of the great artist, his friend and mentor.

Following in Holmes’ footsteps, Ruiz began creating sculptures for his town of San Angelo, Texas. Some of his sculptures include the 2001 life sized bronze statues of a ram and ewe that were formally unveiled at the Junell Center at Angelo State University and in 2011, Raul’s life size sculpture of San Angelo native and western novelist Elmer Kelton was dedicated at the Stephens Central Library in San Angelo. In 2012 busts of the late San Angelo philanthropist Eva Tucker and Elmer Kelton were dedicated at the San Angelo Independent School District Administrative Building. Palo Duro, Oil, 18” X 30”, Raul Ruiz

Ruiz’s works have been exhibited at the Panhandle Plaines Historical Museum in Canyon Texas, Bosque Art Show, Clifton, Texas, Museum of Western Art, Kerrville, Texas, and Trappings of Texas. John David Rule

Minco, Oklahoma

John David Rule was born August 25,1954, in Oklahoma City where he grew up as a cowboy spending most of his time, when not in school, at the Oklahoma City National Stockyards. John studied art at a very young age, attending art class at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. Active in many art projects throughout his high school years, he experimented in multi-media art forms including wire sculpture, oils, charcoal and leather carving.

In 1976 Rule went to work for National Saddlery Company Inc. in the Stockyards and eventually purchased it in 1980. In 2008, John sold the business and built a saddle shop and art studio at his ranch in Minco.

John became known as a “master” at fitting a saddle to a horse. Thanks to the encouragement of his friend A.G. Meyer, he submitted a bid and a beautifully tooled example to the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association, PRCA. Due to the quality of his craftsmanship, he was chosen to build the PRCA World Champion saddles from 1990 to 1999. In 2007, he built the Oklahoma Centennial saddle.

Pulling Collar, Carved Leather, John David Rule Cary Schwarz

Salmon, Idaho

Cary Schwarz began working leather as a hobby in the early 1970s as a farm boy from southern Idaho. Later, he visited a holster shop in Twin Falls where he saw employees working with leather, hand tools and equipment and soon he was working alongside these craftsmen. With this experience, he worked at two different leather shops while attending Boise State University. After working as a trapper, hunting guide, packer and farm worker, Schwarz enrolled in a saddle making school in Spokane, Washington, and built his first saddle in the fall of 1982.

Schwarz’s journey to become a top-notch saddler has led him to seek out some of the West’s most respected craftsmen in order to continue his education. In 1998, he became a founding member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. He received the Academy of Western Artists Saddlemaker of the Year award in 2009 and Idaho Governor’s Award for the Arts in 2010.

In the spring of 2009, Schwarz traveled to France to study old world leather work from a classically trained saddler in Saumur. As he continues his quest for refinement, he has also found the time to teach. Each year he hosts a clinic where he passes on what he has learned about saddle making and flower carving.

iPad Cover, Leather and Water Buffalo , Cary Schwarz Jason Scull

Loveland, Colorado

Jason Scull grew up on the fringes of the south Texas brush country where his family was involved in farming and ranching. His ancestors arrived in Texas in the mid 1820s where they carved out a place in the American West. His sculpture portrays the ranch people of south Texas and the characters of the borderlands of the great Southwest.

His dream of being a Western artist began at the age of fourteen. Upon receiving a copy of The Joe Beeler Sketchbook from his parents for his sixteenth birthday he began in earnest to pursue his dream. To help him achieve his goal, he received instruction from Cowboy Artist of America members Jack Swanson and Mehl Lawson.

His works are in public and private collections across America, Canada and Great Britain. His monumental works are on display in San Marcos, Grapevine, Sequin and McAllen, Texas, and in Caycee, South Carolina. Due to his pursuit of perfection in representing the cowboy and the American West in his sculpture, Scull was recently inducted in the Cowboy Artists of America.

Brushpopper, Bronze, #7 of a Limited Edition of 22, Jason Scull Lindy Cook Sevems

Fort Davis, Texas

Copiloting a corporate jet for husband Jim for two decades gave landscape artist Lindy Cook Severns a profound understanding of the skies that span her landscapes, while seven generations of Texas pioneer ancestors bequeathed the Fort Davis painter an appreciation for vast, rugged spaces and the people who roam them.

Severns’ mother taught her to draw, and she credits Santa Fe’s Albert Handell with her smattering of formal art training. With roots in drawing the human figure, she seeks to paint landscapes as portraits of the terrain. Although some subjects demand being painted in oils, she appreciates the purity, permanence and complexity of soft pastels. “The thought process behind painting in pastels compared to painting in oils is like shooting an instrument approach down to minimums versus flying in clear skies with unrestricted visibility.”

Old Spanish Trail Studio, Lindy's Davis Mountains working fine art studio and studio gallery is open by appointment. She is represented by Midland Gallery, Midland, Texas, Michael Duty Fine Art, Dallas, Texas, and The Open Range Fine Art, Alpine, Texas.

Sunset Bouquet for the Twin Sisters, Pastel on Archival Sanded Paper, 16” X 20”, Lindy Cook Severns Chessney Sevier

Glendo, Wyoming

Chessney Sevier finds inspiration in the simple beauty and lifestyle of the Nebraska sandhills where she grew up, and in the Wyoming landscape where she lives today. The daughter of an artist, Chessney has pursued her own career as a printmaker and painter since receiving her degree in fine arts from Nebraska’s Chadron State College in 1998.

Chessney considers herself a “contemporary western artist.” Her work reflects her rural upbringing and heritage, and expresses her experience of the American West. She works primarily in intaglio or copper plate etching, a process in which each print must be inked and pulled by hand. She also paints in acrylic and in oil, creating small-scale paintings that often depict community life in the rural West.

Sevier has taken top honors in printmaking at the Santa Fe Indian Market, and at the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market, Phoenix, Arizona. Her works have also been seen at the We Pointed Them North exhibit at the Cattle Raisers Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, and in a solo exhibition at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Nerves, Oil on Canvas, 11” X 14”, Chessney Sevier Edgar Sotelo

Sulphur Springs, Texas

Edgar Sotelo is a fourth generation artist who was born in Durango, Mexico. He came to the U.S. and graduated from Texas Tech University in 1988. He put himself through school and his pencil drawings helped to pay his expenses. He was encouraged by his wife to try oil painting in the early 1990s. For the past thirteen years the Sotelos and their three daughters have lived in Sulphur Springs on their ranch, La Joya, The Jewel, where they raise American Quarter Horses.

Sotelo believes in experiencing what he paints. He does this by attending charreadas in Texas and visiting ranches that allow him to ride along, giving him the opportunity to observe, record and preserve the charro/cowboy way of life. He is always looking for ranches and individuals who still do things much as they were done one- hundred years ago. Experiencing this first-hand has created a deeper respect and admiration for this vanishing culture and way of life.

Let’s Go Find Your Mama, Oil on Canvas, 24” X 30”, Edgar Sotelo Baru Spiller

Wingate, Texas

Baru Spiller has been passionate about horses and custom gear all her life. Her dad was making his own rodeo equipment and gear before she was born and Baru started competing in horse events at age nine. She was the 2012 AQHA Ranching Heritage Challenge Amateur Champion, the 2012 Battle in the Saddle Versatility Ranch Horse Amateur Reserve Champion, a year end champion in Stock Horse of Texas and Panhandle Reined Cow Horse Association, and an AQHA and NRCHA world show qualifier.

Baru married renowned custom spur and bit maker, Joe Spiller, in 1998, and in 2006 he encouraged her to begin silversmithing. Her silver work has been included in exhibits at the Trappings of Texas at the Museum of the Big Bend, Alpine TX, the Western Folklife Museum in Elko, Nevada, the Art of the Cowboy Makers in Loveland, Colorado, and the PRCA Cowboy Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Baru is also a military veteran of the Gulf War and Bosnian Conflict era. She and Joe live near Wingate, Texas.

Six Slotted Saddle Conchos, Sterling Silver on Steel, Baru Spiller Jim Spradley

Alpine, Texas

Jim Spradley has always appreciated a fine hat and admired the quality and workmanship of those worn in generations past, like those worn by his Dad and other men he admired. Working in Luskey's Western Store in Lubbock during his college days at Texas Tech, Jim began to get an understanding of the processes involved in hat making. In the next thirty plus years Jim's involvement in ranching and other businesses eventually lead him to the Big Bend area. Having a desire to offer others a hat that was not only custom to them, but was of the fine quality and workmanship that he had observed in the past, he and his wife Judy opened Spradley Hats in Alpine, Texas.

Silver Select Hat, 3 5/8” Width Brim, 1/2” Open Crown, Beaver, Jim Spradley Mark Stewart

Lipan, Texas

Mark Stewart, originally from Western Canada, now calls Lipan, Texas home. Mark has spent most of his life riding and working with horses bringing this knowledge to his customers. He works closely with the client to develop an understanding of their needs and that of their horse, to deliver a high quality, functional work of art. Stewart strives to develop and hone his skills as an artist, seeing himself as a lifelong student who wants each piece to grow from the last one.

Today Mark works from his home in Lipan, Texas, which he shares with his wife Holly and their daughter Gabrielle who are a constant source of help and inspiration. Stewart is one of the founding members of the International Guild of Bit and Spur Makers, a non-profit organization created to educate and promote the craft of bit and spur making.

Santa Barbara Bit, Fine Silver Inlays with Sterling Dots. With Fine Silver Inlayed Rein Chains, Copper Inlayed Stylized Curb Mouth- piece, Mark Stewart Paul Van Dyke

Sheridan, Wyoming

Paul Van Dyke’s interest in good horses and fine gear began at an early age. The impact of Will James, the great Western artist and author, a love of history and good horsemen all combined to foster this interest. At the age of sixteen, Paul apprenticed to Ron Silverman learning how to make basic strap goods. By age eighteen, Don Butler was his mentor. It was under his tutelage that Paul learned the fundamentals of saddlery and saw this work as an art form. He worked for Butler for seven years; however he took time off during this period to cowboy as well as work for and with different horse trainers.

In May 2004, Van Dyke struck out on his own with a two pronged business that reflects his passions of building saddles and training horses. By using his own gear every day, he understands firsthand how the practical should combine with the beautiful. This combination is what Paul wants his horses and saddles to exhibit. They both should be balanced, refined and elegant but more than capable to meet the challenges of the ranch or arena.

Van Dyke and his wife have four children and they live near Sheridan, Wyoming.

Saddle, Leather, Paul Van Dyke Mike Vaughn

Bowie, Texas

Mike began his boot making apprenticeship at the age of sixteen, while still in high school. His mentors were Clyde and Joe Vasquez, two brothers and Master Bootmakers, who went to work at what was then Frank Leddy’s, now M.L. Leddy’s, in the Fort Worth Stockyards over thirty years ago. Clyde and Joe began working for Frank Leddy in 1941, the day he opened the store, and were still there in 1983 when Mike graduated from high school.

In Mike’s five and a half years of apprenticeship with Clyde and Joe, they would always say, “You better pay attention to what we’re showing you because it’s not written down anywhere and when we’re gone, the knowledge is gone.”

Today the legend is carried on as Mike continues to create beautiful, quality, great- fitting handmade boots for cowboys, cowgirls, businessmen and city folks all over the country.

Mike has one goal when it comes to crafting the finest handmade boots in Texas–perfection. His artistic flair, authentic cowboy style and demand for excellence are evident in every pair

Boots, Elephant Skin, Mike Vaughn Nate Wald

Lodgegrass, Montana

After graduating from college and returning to his home near Lodgegrass to ranch with his father, Nate Wald braided his first pair of reins in the spring of 1989 and has been braiding steadily ever since. “My great-grandfather did some braiding. It was pretty rough work, but it was functional–neck ropes, whips, quirts,” says Wald, “and I just always liked braiding.”

Wald is constantly striving to improve the quality of his work with each new piece he braids. His work is designed to be used. “I want to make the finest, most beautiful, unique gear I can produce without losing tradition, functionality, or straight, clean work.”

By reading books on the craft and spending countless hours of braiding, Wald considers himself to be self-taught. A number of men, however, have been influential in the development of his work including Ed DuBeau, Bryan Neubert and Bill Dorrance. Wald is a member of the TCAA. Nate's work has been shown in the The Gathering of Gear exhibit in Elko, Nevada, and is in the permanent collection of gear at Elko's Western Folklife Center.

Double Button Hobbles, Trenza Patria Flat Braided Cuffs, Dou- bled and Laced With Intricate Edge Braiding. Rawhide Buttons are Braided in Dark Brown Onion-Dyed Rawhide, Nate Wald H.M. Wells

Penwell, Texas

H.M. Wells was spent over twenty-five years working on ranches in the sandhill region of West Texas. He fashioned his first set of spurs in 1978 using tools in the ranch shop. In 1984, he began building working-type cowboy saddles and opened a saddle shop. By 2000 he started making bits and spurs exclusively. Wells recalls, “When I started building this stuff, it was out of necessity because I couldn’t afford to go to town to buy what I needed.” Wells through his own field testing and the advice of “old timer cowboys” can offer his customers time proven gear.

Today H.M. works during the day as a metal fabricator and considers himself as a part-time builder, mostly of spurs and bits noted for their high relief firearms style of engraving. Wells acknowledges and thanks the help he has received from those cattlemen of yesteryear to the bit and spur makers and engravers of today who have set such high standards to follow and the knowledge they have shared with him.

Wells has shown his work in Trappings of Texas and the Trappings of the American West exhibit at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, Arizona. He is a member of the International Guild of Bit and Spur Makers.

Mike Pruitt Bit, Satin Finish Nickel Silver Overlay, Copper Stripped Cannons, Polished Blued Antiqued Finish, H. M. Wells Troy West

Azle, Texas

Troy grew up calf roping, team roping, and helping friends and neighbors work their cattle. Teachers encouraged him to pursue art, and he applied his artistic skills to saddle making. He built his first saddle at the age of eighteen, in 1977. He and his brother opened West Bros. Saddlery the next year.

Wanting to do more roping he moved to Kilgore, Texas, where he tied ropes and built saddles for the Billy Leach Rope Company and he was able to rope pretty much every day. After working there for three years, he and his family moved to Greenville where he worked for the Billy Cook Saddlery for the next three years. He then began building saddles for Ryon's in Fort Worth. During the course of the last twenty years he has learned how to engrave silver and build saddle trees.

In 2000 his saddle won Best of Show at the annual Boot and Saddlemaker’s Round Up in Wichita Falls, Texas. He won again in 2002, 2003 and 2005. In 2001, he was commissioned by the Texas Federation of Young Republicans to build a saddle for President George W. Bush.

Judges Clip Board, Carved Leather, Troy West Rygh Westby

Sedona, Arizona

Image courtesy of Jeannie Zimmerman

Rygh Westby, pronounced Rig, has worked on cow outfits, large and small, all over the West from Montana to Arizona, and some of these outfits still pulled a round up wagon, the horse- drawn kind.

A self-taught artist, Rygh painted at night while using bunkhouses or barns as his studio. While still working for the historic Padlock Ranch in Montana, he made his first sale of a painting through a gallery. Prior to that, Westby traded paintings for doctor bills, partial payments on a saddle, and the like. The sale of that small painting led to the creation of a body of work over the ensuing four decades. Most of the subjects for Westby’s work are men he has worked with and the same is true of the horses he depicts.

Westby’s art is in private and museum collections, including the bronze Ain’t A Horse That Can’t Be Rode, selected by the late Mr. Soichiro Honda for the Honda Motor Company Corporate Collection, the Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody, Wyoming, Museum of the Big Bend, Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana, and the Bradford Brinton Museum, Big Horn, Wyoming. Rygh’s work can also be found in the collections of other artists, a high compliment, indeed.

Southwest Brush Hand, Oil, 18” X 24” ,Rygh Westby K.W. Whitley

Cherokee, Texas

K.W. Whitley was born and raised west of Austin, Texas. She attended Westlake High School, and continued her education at the University of Texas, Austin, with emphasis on fine art and design. Her interest in art was nurtured and encouraged by her father, Ralph White, who was an accomplished artist and instructor with the University of Texas Art Department.

As a child, K.W. showed hunters and dressage horses, and then pursued eventing. The discipline and knowledge gained through enduring the training needed for such riding, she feels, helped tremendously in later endeavors. In addition, she day-worked for Buster Borchardt on his large cow/calf operation near Crowell, Texas, and while working for him, she was exposed to the many aspects of daily ranch work.

Currently, K.W. lives in Cherokee, Texas, and there in her studio she continues to explore, observe and translate her visual experiences and influences to canvas and paper, using both oil, or a combination of gouache and color pencil. Her work can be seen in numerous shows in the U.S. and at the River’s Edge Gallery, Kerrville, Texas.

Bearcat, Oil, 14”X12”, K. W. Whitley Weldon Whitley

Odessa, Texas

Weldon Whitley began making knives for the public in 1964. In 1978 he joined the Knifemakers’ Guild and was the Director for the Texas Knifemaker’s and Collectors Association. While employed by El Paso Natural Gas, as a machinist, Whitley made knives in his spare time and upon his retirement in 2002, he began to make knives full time.

Whitley uses materials that perform well as blades and a wide variety of materials for handles. These include wood, mammoth ivory, wart hog ivory and other exotic materials.

Knife, 154CM Blade and Stabilized Wood Handle, Weldon Whitley John Willemsma

Guthrie, Okalahoma

John Willemsma has had the great fortune studying under some of today's greatest craftsmen, such as Don King, Dale Harwood and Chuck Stormes. Combining the knowledge he gained from them, and his study of early saddleries particularly Visalia, Hamley and Ray Holes, Willemsma brings a strong desire for high standards to each and every saddle that he builds.

For over thirty years, it has been Willemsma’s goal to use the knowledge passed on to him and the experience that he has gained as a horseman to create a lasting saddle that combines both function and artistic eye appeal.

Willemsma is a member of the TCAA, Traditional Cowboy Arts Association. His saddles have been displayed at Vaquero’s Days, Santa Ynez, California, Working Ranch Cowboy Association Finals, Amarillo, Texas, Oklahoma Folklife Festival, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Elko, Nevada.

Spur Straps, Carved Leather, John Willemsma Russell Yates

Rotan, Texas

West Texas native, Russell Yates has spent his entire life in Rotan, Texas, and is part of the third generation involved in the family farming and ranching tradition that includes cow/calf and yearling operations. Cowboy gear is a natural part of his environment and Yates grew up using lots of it.

Although he still manages his family’s interest in the farming and ranching operation, he has been making bits and spurs full-time since 2000. While he still makes some traditional Texas- style pieces, by blending in California and buckaroo styles, his work has become a very appealing, high-quality hybrid of the two styles. His work has been seen at the Women’s Protective Services Benefit Auction in Lubbock, Texas, and in Trappings of Texas. Yates is a member of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association and is a founding member of the International Guild of Bit and Spur Makers.

Texas Bit, Inlaid Fine Silver Vines and Flowers, TCAA Logos in 24k Gold, Nitre Blue, Russell Yates Trappings of Texas CONTACT INFORMATION

Abbott, Larry Baize, Wayne PO Box 11 HCR 74, Box 53 Dickens, Texas 79229 Fort Davis, Texas 79734 (806) 789-9029 (432) 426-3796 [email protected] [email protected] http://waynebaizeca.com/ Alderson, Dave 3801 North 2600 East Ballantyne, Vern Twin Falls, Idaho 83301 PO Box 339 (208) 539-4013 Unity, Saskatchewan S0K4L0 [email protected] Canada http://www.silverchip.net/index.htm (306) 228-3195 [email protected] Almond, Chase 10300 FM 1187 Basso, Keith Fort Worth, Texas 76126 PO Box 577 (817) 572-3624 Heber, Arizona 85928 [email protected] (928) 535-5306 www.chasealmond.com [email protected]

Anders, Mike Blackwood, George 12105 Pecan Lane PO Box 351 San Angelo, Texas 76904 Farmersville, Texas 75442 (325) 277-9420 (469) 767-1035 [email protected] [email protected] www.andersgear.com http://www.georgeblackwoodbitsandspurs.com/

Asher, Brian Blake, Buckeye 8357 CR 3105 1700 Highway 52 N. FM Snyder, Texas 79549 Weatherford, Texas 76088 (325) 574-2541 (940) 682-7587 [email protected] [email protected] http://brianasherart.com/ http://theblakestudios.com/buckeyeblake.html

Trappings of Texas CONTACT INFORMATION

Blake, Teal Cook, Doug 178 West Boulder Road HC 61, Box 103 McLeod, Montana 69052 Lenapah, Oklahoma 74042 (817) 304-0308 (918) 440-8466 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.tealblake.com/ Crawford, Rex Bolton, Brody 41249 County Road DD 2108 Bonham Walsh, Colorado 81090 Odessa, Texas 79761 (719) 324-5234 (432)-559-2940 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.crawfordspursandsaddlery.com/

Butters, Randy Crow, Tyler 4275 22 1/2 Mile Road Route 2, Box 179 Homer, Michigan 49245 Apache, Oklahoma 73006 (517) 568-4188 (580) 588-2321 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.randybuttersspurs.com/ http://tylercrow.com/

Capron, Mike Crowe, Angie PO Box 176 1894 Chimney Valley Road Sheffield, Texas 79781 Blanco, Texas 78606 (432) 238-2005 (830) 833-2905 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.mwcapron.com/ www.angiecrowewoolworks.com

Capron, Wilson W. Donley, Vince 6238 Green Oaks Drive 1275 Pass Creek Road Christoval, Texas 76935 Parkman, Wyoming 82838 (432) 967-0684 (307) 655-2223 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.wilsoncapron.com

Trappings of Texas CONTACT INFORMATION

Douglas, Vandy Gilmore, Jim 2047 Coffen Avenue 3731 South 105 Road Sheridan, Wyoming 82801 Alamosa, Colorado 81101 (307) 674-6679 (719) 580-3456 [email protected] [email protected] http://vandydouglas.com/ http://jimgilmoreart.com/

Elkins, Kevin Hagel, Sara Douglas 4701 CR 418 PO Box 487 May, Texas 76857 Dayton, Wyoming 82836 (325) 642-4677 (307) 655-3275 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.mecates.com/ Elliott, Teresa 3513 High Countryside Drive Hardy, Scott Grapevine, Texas 76051 PO Box 40 (817) 488-0429 Longview, Alberta T0L1H0 [email protected] Canada http://www.teresa-elliott.com/ (403) 558-2337 [email protected] Franklin, Wayne http://www.scotthardy.com/index.html PO Box 738 Cotulla, Texas 78014 Hensley, Leland (830) 879-5457 PO Box 25 [email protected] Meridian, Texas 76665 (254) 717-7335 Galloway, Jerry [email protected] 514 Bradley Lane http://www.lelandhensley.com/ Dumas, Texas 79029 (806) 935-6590 Hudson, J.T. [email protected] 466 East Cheroke Drive Hobbs, New Mexico 88240 (575) 392-4919

Trappings of Texas CONTACT INFORMATION

Humphreys, Matt Krause, Douglas 1119 CR 360 859 Washington Street 300 Spur, Texas 79370 Red Bluff, California 96080 (806) 781-8025 (209) 981-9780 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.mhumphreys.webs.com/ Ledbetter, Laddan Jones, Stephen PO Box 50775 51331 SCR 193 Midland, Texas 79710 Woodward, Oklahoma 73801 (432) 553-5185 (580) 698-2588 [email protected] [email protected] Lozano, Pablo King, Krist La Madrid 204 PO Box 51 Buenos Aires, Tandil 7000 Archbold, Ohio 43502 Argentina (419) 445-4277 +54- 2293- 446059 [email protected] Klapper, Billy 1231 South Finley Mapes, Jan Pampa, Texas 79065 98800 CR 56.3 (806) 665-6454 Kim, Colorado 81049 [email protected] (719) 980-6089 [email protected] Klein, Gene http://janmapes.com/ HCR 61, Box 20 Miami, New Mexico 87729 Marsh, Ernie (575) 483-2922 PO Box 738 [email protected] Thayne, Wyoming 83127 http://geneklein.com/ (307) 880-1101 [email protected] Knight, Frank “Buddy” http://www.spanishspade.com/ PO Box 1324 Marfa, Texas 79843 [email protected] Trappings of Texas CONTACT INFORMATION

Martiny, Nancy Olson, Whit 159 Hooper Lane 25947 443 Avenue May, Idaho 83253 Canistota, South Dakota 57012 (208) 876-4227 (406) 599-0125 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.martinysaddle.com/ http://whitolson.com/

McConnell, Loyd Peebles, Pee Wee 309 CR 144-B PO Box 433 Marble Falls, Texas 78654 Marathon, TX 79842 (830) 798-8087 (432) 631-5715 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.ccknives.com/ Poulain, Benoit 6822 CR 3223 McConnell, Sharon Lone Oak, Texas 75453 5183 N FM 219 (903) 662-5602 Dublin, Texas 76446 [email protected] (254) 485-0170 http://poulaincustomsilver.com/ [email protected] www.sharonmcconellart.com Ramos, Ruben PO Box 756 McCumber, Rick Jal, New Mexico 88252 PO Box 560 (575) 390-0496 George West, Texas 78022 [email protected] (361) 449-1492 [email protected] Raye, Ken http://rickmccumber.com/ 11690 Spring-Port Hudson Road Zachary, Louisiana 70791 Montefusco, Carlos (225) 654-4747 Holmberg 549 [email protected] Buenos Aires, Tandil 7000 http://www.kenraye.net/index2.php Argentina +54- 02293- 443293 [email protected]

Trappings of Texas CONTACT INFORMATION

Ribeyrol, Javier Severns, Lindy Cook 3855 Southwest 128th Avenue PO Box 2167 Miami, Florida 33175 Fort Davis, Texas 79734 (786) 253-6639 (806) 789-6513 [email protected] [email protected] http://lindycookseverns.com/ Ruiz, Raul 76 North Chadbourne Sevier, Chessney PO Box 232 San Angelo, Texas 76903 Glendo, Wyoming 82213 (325) 655-0832 (307) 359-0631 [email protected] [email protected] http://ruizgallery.com/index.asp?mid=1 http://www.chessneysevier.com/

Rule, John David Spiller, Baru 776 CR 1210 2702 CR 209 Minco, Oklahoma 73059 Wingate, Texas 79566 (405) 459-6211 (325) 668-9915 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.spillerranch.com/silver.html Schwarz, Cary 132 Williams Creek Road Sotelo, Edgar Salmon, Idaho 83467 3674 CR 1174 (208) 756-8383 Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482 [email protected] (903) 485-2011 http://www.caryschwarz.com/ [email protected] http://soteloart.com/ Scull, Jason 418 8th Street SE, C-1 Spradley Hats Loveland, Colorado 80537 PO Box 1648 (512)-757-2324 Alpine, Texas 79830 [email protected] (432) 837-3061 http://jasonscull.com/ [email protected] http://www.spradleyhats.com/

Trappings of Texas CONTACT INFORMATION

Stewart, Mark West, Troy 13994 CR 146 11290 Allison Avenue Lipan, Texas 76462 Azle, Texas 76020 (254) 646-2830 (817) 444-7950 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.stewartbitsandspurs.net/ http://troywestsaddles.com/joomla/

Van Dyke, Paul Westby, Rygh 3842 Highway 87 360 Elmersville Road Banner, Wyoming 82382 Sedona, Arizona 86336 (307) 673-5783 (928) 204-6416 [email protected] [email protected] http://vandykesaddlery.com/ Willemsma, John Vaughn, Mike 5200 East Forest Hills Road 2390 Orchard Road Guthrie, Oklahoma 73044 Bowie, Texas 76230 (405) 282-5336 (940) 872-6935 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.ljsaddlery.com http://mikevaughnhandmadeboots.com/ Whitley, K.W. Wald, Nate 604 West FM 501 HC 45, Box 810 Cherokee, Texas 76832 Lodgegrass, Montana 59050 (325) 622-4016 (406) 639-2219 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.natewald.com/ Whitley, Weldon 4308 North Robin Avenue Wells, H.M. Odessa, Texas 79764 PO Box 347 (432) 530-0448 Penwell, Texas 79776 [email protected] (432) 333-3684 http://custom-crafted-knives.com/ wtcowboy.msn.com Yates, Russell 708 East Burnside Rotan, Texas 79546 (325) 721-5236 [email protected]

Texas State University Board of Regents

Donna N. Williams Chairman Arlington Ron Mitchell Vice Chairman Horseshoe Bay Charlie Amato Regent San Antonio

Dr. Jaime R. Garza Regent San Antonio Kevin J. Lilly Regent Houston David Montagne Regent Beaumont Trisha Pollard Regent Bellaire Rossanna Salazar Regent Austin William F. Scott Regent Nederland Andrew Greenberg Student Regent Beaumont Dr. Brian McCall, Chancellor Austin